March 2010

March 22, 2010

The Cowboys are among the teams that Idaho guard Mike Iupati has on his pre-draft rounds, according to Scout.com. The Internet site lists 15 teams that he will workout for or visit before the draft. Iupati has ascended up draft boards, and some scouts believe, because of his long arms, that Iupati can play tackle on the next level.

Penn State linebackers Sean Lee and Navorro Bowman will visit the Cowboys, too, according to pennlive.com.

Executive vice president Stephen Jones said Monday that the Cowboys have most of their pre-draft visits scheduled. You can expect many of the top offensive linemen and the top receivers to have Valley Ranch on their itineraries.

The postseason overtime proposal has been discussed a lot, and we mentioned the "Flozell Adams Rule." That's where a deal ball foul on the last play of the first half will carry over to the second half.

Owners also will vote on a proposal that could be known as the "Jason Witten Rule." Remember when Witten lost his helmet against the Eagles a couple of years ago but kept running? Under the proposed rules change, when a ball carrier loses his helmet, the play immediately will be whistled dead. College football already has the rule in place.

The NFL also will move the umpire to the offensive side of the ball. Rich McKay, the co-chairman of the NFL's competition committee, said they saw 100 plays from last season when the umpire ended up on the ground.

"It's a safety issue," McKay said Monday. "The umpire needs to get out of the middle of the action."

Clarence Hill already reported that the Cowboys would play the Texans in the preseason as well as the regular season. It appears the Cowboys' fourth of five preseason games will be in Houston, when the Cowboys break camp in California.

The Texans will close the preseason against Tampa Bay.

Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said nothing has been finalized other than the Cowboys will start the preseason against the Bengals in the Hall of Fame Game. They will play one preseason game on the West Coast, while they are training in California. They will begin training camp in San Antonio.

The Cowboys and Texans did not play last season.

"I always want to play the Cowboys every year," Texans owner Bob McNair said Monday. "We did up until last year, and we hope to again, starting next preseason. I think we should play them every year."

Rookie kicker David Buehler led the league in touchbacks last season, but he didn't attempt a field goal. The Cowboys struggled in that area, using two field-goal kickers last season and making only 20-of-31 attempts.

They have signed Connor Hughes, who kicked for the Philadelphia Soul of the AFL in 2008, but Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said he still has high hopes that Buehler can become a field-goal kicker.

"He has potential there, I think," Phillips said. "...He certainly has the leg to kick it far enough. In this case, it saves us a [roster] spot [if Buehler handled both jobs]. It's something worth trying to do obviously."

The league awarded 32 compensatory picks in the 2010 NFL Draft, but the Cowboys received none. Under terms of the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement, a team losing more or better compensatory free agents than it acquires in the previous year is eligible to receive compensatory draft picks.

New England received the maximum four compensatory picks. Carolina, Pittsburgh and Tennessee each received three.

Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones is on the competition committee and voted to present the proposed postseason overtime rule to membership. He said the Cowboys are for the rule that, If approved by ownership, would allow the team winning the coin toss in overtime of a postseason game to win the game on its opening possession only by scoring a touchdown. A field goal would guarantee the other team a possession to tie the game with a field goal or to win with a touchdown.

"We really put a lot of thought into it," Jones said. "I think we've got something as a committee that ought to be looked at very carefully by membership. The big thing the Cowboys are behind is if you look at statistics how things have changed, whether it's the accuracy of these field-goal kickers -- they're obviously longer and more accurate -- and you look at the fact that we put the kickoff back [to the 30-yard line], which the people before us put a lot of time into the overtime rule didn't envision that the kickoff would keep moving back, and it's obviously moved the starting position up. The thing has changed a lot. ...That's our only point. It just seems like you've got to do some correction, and we think we've come up with one that we definitely think will give membership a thought process and hopefully put something in that would improve our game."

It will take 24 of the 32 owners to approve the measure, which is expected to be to a vote Wednesday.

The NFL has postponed the scheduling announcement of a few key games until Tuesday. The league had been expected to announce Monday the Cowboys' Thanksgiving Day opponent as well as key games during opening weekend.

The Cowboys will host an NFC team on Thanksgiving. It will be an NFC East opponent, the Saints or the Bears.

Nothing has been finalized on the Cowboys' plans for training camp this summer, Stephen Jones said, but he said they will start training camp in San Antonio. The Cowboys also will spend some time training in California. They are working out the logistics. They also will play at least one preseason game in California.

The Cowboys will start training camp earlier, because they are playing in the Hall of Fame Game against the Bengals.

The agent for Miles Austin said he is hopeful the receiver will have a new long-term contract by the start of the season. David Dunn, Austin's agent, answered "sure" when asked whether it was possible the sides could come to an agreement before the season.

Dunn would not comment when asked if other teams have shown interest in Austin, who visited the Jets last year as a restricted free agent though he didn't get an offer. Teams have until April 15 to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets.

The Cowboys gave Austin a first- and third-round tender for $3.168 million. That means the Cowboys would get first- and third-round draft picks in return if Austin signs a deal they decide not to match. Jerry Jones has said the Cowboys will do whatever it takes to keep Austin.

Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said things have been quiet at Valley Ranch, because they prepared for the uncapped year by tying up most of their players.

"We used a large amount of our resources to do that," Stephen Jones said. "We've got our guys restricted, and the thing I'd say about restricted guys is obviously we want them on our team. At the same time, those things usually take more time in terms of urgency as far as we're concerned."

The NFL owners meetings are under way at the Ritz Carlton in Orlando. Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones are in the session now. Earlier today, Commissioner Roger Goodell gave his state of the league to owners, coaches and GMs. They are expected to break for lunch around noon.

Jerry Jones likely will speak to local reporters tomorrow, and Wade Phillips will attend the NFC coaches' breakfast Wednesday.

The commissioner will talk to reporters during the lunch break. The competition committee co-chairs also will talk today.